This is the prize-winning interview with Del Day, a Watford supporter, in Salut! Sunderland annual HAWAY awards. Del took first place – as you can read here – and has expressed a preference for the £50 voucher from Classic Football Shirts (‘I’ll get that ’89 away shirt for my wife – only kidding, it’s the kit she hates most!’) … bravo Del, and here’s your interview all over again …
The deed is done. Another series of Who are You? interviews with opposing supporters has produced winners. Read on to see who the judges chose, and why ….
The judges have spoken. This year’s winners of the HAWAYs – awards for the Highly Articulate Who are You? interviews conducted through each season with fans of Sunderland’s opposing clubs – are announced today.
And in clear top place is Watford-supporting Del Day, followed by Chelsea’s Ray Knight and Bournemouth’s Tom Latchem.
Salut! Sunderland is, as ever, enormously grateful to the prize sponsors – Classic Football Shirts, When Saturday Comeshttps://shop.wsc.co.uk and Art of Football, and the gallery shows appropriate products each offers – and will simply offer Del his choice of the three. Ray gets second choice, leaving Tom with the remaining prize.
If the mood holds until the end of this article, there will be a special award from Salut! Sunderland funds for another deserving contender. But the truth is, as Jake’s caption makes clear, that the strength of the Who are You? series – see the full season’s entries here – is the quality of the responses we receive from the supporters who agree to participate.
John McCormick writes:
While we await our new manager, Pete’s relegation reminiscences and the imminent announcement of this (last) season’s WAY winner we have time for a look back. This post first appeared ten years ago, on June 6th, 2007:
See how we introduced this year’s awards at https://safc.blog/2017/05/haway-its-awards-time-again-with-bournemouth-middlesbrough-swansea-making-early-running/
The suspense mounts.
Early next week, Salut! Sunderland will announce the winners of the HAWAYS, our annual Who are You? awards for the best interviews with opposing supporters.
The prizes shall be:
* a year’s subscription to the ever-brilliant magazine When Saturday Comes
* a voucher for £50 to spend with Classic Football Shirts
* a print from Art of Football. You’ll recall their highly individual depictions of Jermain Defoe’s winning volley against Newcastle United, Kevin Phillips and the heroes of 1973. A winner choosing this prize would naturally look more widely around Art of football’s range
Pete Sixsmith has seen 180 games since the season began. The ones he regrets most involve the Lads in red and white, or whatever away strip in which they were purporting to play. But along the way, he’s seen some great football as well as the duds …
Ken Gambles has paid the price of being too conscientious. Ken’s end-of-season review arrived so quickly that by the time we got round to publishing the series, Monsieur Salut had completely forgotten it. Apologies to Ken. But now sit back and appreciate, later than intended, his thoughts – and a heartening conclusion even if one that has Ken questioning his mental health …
Pete Sixsmith, as ever, brings our end of series reviews to a climax and it is a suitably bleak one. …
I’m glad we can begin to look forward to next season. Although it might seem a grim prospect I’m sure there will be readers thinking it’s a bit less grim than it was, now that Moyes has gone. As to the thoughts of the Salut team, you’ve had opinions from Lars, Malcolm, Mick Goulding, Wrinkly Pete and myself, and you can look forward to some fine writing to come from, at least, M Salut and Pete Sixsmith, who will finish off the series.
Here’s something a bit different, though. A series of charts showing some of the key features of a season to forget:
Like Pete Sixsmith, Malcolm Dawson gets to more matches than most people. He’s well placed to comment on skill, systems, strengths and weaknesses. He’s a regular at the Stadium of Light too, which means he’s well placed to comment on them in the context of SAFC.
But that’s not all. He’s a keen observer of all things Sunderland, which makes his end of season review very interesting indeed. Read on for some wholesome food for thought while we await events off the pitch
John McCormick writes: I was there, at Goodison, that night. For a long time afterwards I felt cheated but I was prepared to accept that Coventry fans would think “tough” – I would have done so in their circumstances. Nevertheless, I always harboured a resentment towards Jimmy Hill and when I heard Coventry fans had clubbed together and paid for a statue, which the man himself was invited to unveil, I couldn’t wish them well.
Pete Sixsmith may offer sympathy. My thoughts are a bit more Karmic: Get rid of the statue, Coventry fans, look what it has brought you.